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Wednesday, May 3, 2017

The First Spirit

One
thing that comes up in traditional systems of witchcraft and magic is
the idea of introduction. Either a spirit or another magician,
perhaps even some event, that introduces the magician to the spirits
with whom he will work. Spirits are often approached in some sort of
“spirit court” or a group of spirits with which the magician and
his family or his fellow magicians work. Even magicians who don't
work in that context will often talk about “my spirits” or the
spirits with whom they have a working relationship. Even looking at
the grimoires, particularly the personal miscellanies which survive,
we find descriptions of handfuls of spirits with whom the magician
worked for various purposes. More sweeping systematic grimoires often
have larger lists collected together as if to be comprehensive, and
of course some miscellanies have large collected lists, and some
systematic texts only have a few. But most magicians will have a core
group of spirits they work with, even in the large lists we see a lot
of spirits that do the same or similar things. We see spirits which
have structural elements for ruling and summoning other spirits or
facilitating other spirit magic. While there are an array of spirits
which need to be part of our world, we don't necessarily need to be
in contact with all of them all the time, and we don't need to
necessarily conjure every spirit under the moon.

So
how do we know who to talk to? How do we approach our group of
spirits initially? How do we transition from one to several?

Jake
Stratton-Kent has done a lot with advocating for the return of the
intermediary spirit to modern ceremonial magic and spirit
conjuration. He has pointed to this being an element of the Grimorium
Verum which is lacking in other grimoires but likely points back to
older magic not necessarily recorded in the grimoires themselves. He
has also presented a way of working this into modern ceremonial work
by preserving Scirlin's function in his Goetic Liturgy system. As to
intermediaries or introducing spirits being a part of traditional
magic, we can see signs of this in the Greco-Egyptian Magical
Papyrii, so it is a fair assumption that this occurs in older magical
systems. We also see it in living sorcery traditions in the
Caribbean. To some degree the Abramelin operates in this way, the
angel granting authority to call the Kings and the kings then
introducing the rest of the spirits...but arguably this is working
through a hierarchy rather than an intermediary.

The
Testament of Solomon is probably the easiest clear example of such a
thing existing in a source that directly feeds into the Solomonic
literary tradition. In the Testament of Solomon we see the presence
of thwarting angels, or angels who can be called upon to subdue
unruly demons. This can be cited as existing in earlier magical
systems and we see it echoed if not outright present in some later
grimoire traditions. We also see the archangel Michael present
Solomon with a ring and with the divine authority to command spirits.
These two features are the ones which are arguably familiar with
grimoire magic in a ritual sense, and otherwise the book is largely
like a spirit catalogue presented in a mythological form.

A
significant component is the introduction to the spirits. Michael
doesn't bring Solomon a demon, or introduce him to a spirit. Michael
gives him tools and authority. Solomon encounters the spirit Ornias
because Ornias is harassing a boy whom Solomon cares for. He
naturally experiences a supernatural event which creates a spirit
encounter and he then uses his position to compel that spirit to
introduce him to other spirits and learn how to command them.

This
is the clearest example of an intermediary. The spirit introduces
Solomon to the ruler of the infernal spirits and is used by Solomon
to call upon the spirits. Ornias is sometimes associated with Oriens;
there may or may not be a relationship. In the Clavis Inferni Oriens
is given as Urieus, and in the Testament Ornias says that Uriel is
his father. Ornias is given as a spirit of the East in the
Hygromanteia and in the Testament he falls under the sign of Aquarius
linking him to the East and the element of Air. In Livre Des Esperitz
Oriens is given as the first spirit of the group of spirits following
the chief spirits. Part of his office is to bring the other spirits
to the magician. This is of course the function Ornias serves in the
Testament.

Whether
Ornias or Oriens are related or not it still illustrates for us that
the spirits may be encountered by way of introduction. Clearly
magicians also just conjure spirits. But developing a relationship
based on the existence of a pervasive and developed spirit world
which surrounds us and is part of our lives allows magic to be
interwoven into everything. In a world where spirits maintain their
existence and work regardless of our psyches, while they might work
with us when we randomly call them up, it's an easy assumption to
think things with personalities might not just jump all in for any
stranger that beckons. So a spirit who can be like “Hey, here's my
bro, get to know him, he might need your help sometimes” can be a
useful ally.

I
posted about this concept previously in my spirit conjuration guide.
But there I talked mostly about picking a spirit based on that
function, like for example crossroads spirits. Here I want to talk
about your “first spirit.” You first spirit is a spirit you're
able to encounter and naturally develop a relationship with, not
necessarily one whose job is introductions by way of his ordained
function. For me when I was a very small child, about three, the
spirit of one of my grandfathers came to me. I didn't understand who
it was at the time, just that he was a spirit who cared about me and
would help me when I needed it. When there were other more
problematic spirits he helped me navigate them and avoid them. When I
got a little older he helped me with meeting nature spirits and
starting to learn magic.

When
people ask me about how to learn witchcraft my first thought is to
tell them to go meet some spirits and ask the spirits to teach them
magic. That's really at the core of witchcraft. We have some of our
access to magic because of our connection to our ancestors and the
spirit world connections they can broker for us. Certain ancestors
will connect with us because they cared about us in life. Others
maybe because of some circumstance. Either way, they make for the
easiest spirits to build a natural relationship with. The initial one
you connect to can help connect you with the other ancestral spirits,
and the overall group of ancestors can back you up in your work with
the spirit world and help you negotiate relationships with spirits.

But
maybe you haven't encountered an ancestor. Maybe you have to reach
out and work to make contact with them. You can pick a person you
knew, or maybe someone you've heard stories about. Or maybe your
first spirit doesn't have to be an ancestor. Emma Wilby in
Cunning Folk and Familiar Spirits begins the book by recounting the
story of Bessie Dunlop, a 16th Century Scottish Witch. She
worked her magic by way of a familiar spirit, not one of her
ancestors but the spirit of a dead man she encountered one day. The
story implies that the spirit needed help with issues with his family
and used his relationship with Bessie to resolve those issues. The
relationship was formed because of a mutual need for aid. Your first
spirit can be a spirit you encounter where it needs to encounter you
just as you need to encounter it. The world has an abundance of
spirits, so it's a matter of being able to make contact and be aware
of them, but it's also important to be cautious to ascertain the
nature of the spirit and the relationship being formed.

Aside
from spirits of the dead, faeries are a traditional familiar spirit
for witches. Exploring encounters with the fair folk can also be a
way to obtain a first spirit, and traditionally faeries have
connections with the dead and with those spirits more commonly
conjured in the grimoire systems, so they are positioned
traditionally to broker those connections and aid in teaching magic.
The familiar spirits given to witches in the trial accounts often
seem to be fairies rather than the demons inquisitors wanted them to
be. Even the Black Man who gave witches their familiars had a
relationship with the Elf Queen. The overlap between the fairies and
other spirits shows up in Reginald Scots's compendium of spells. He
explains that magicians might make pacts with condemned criminals and
then raise their spirits, creating a rather natural first spirit
encounter since the encounter is prearranged while the person is
living. The spirit of the dead can then go find one of the primary
sisters amongst the seven fairy sisters, Sibilya, and retrieve her so
the magician can make contact.

So
maybe you don't know any condemned criminals, or dead people, or ways
to find fairies. Nature spirits may be the easiest to approach in
this case. The first spirits my First Spirit introduced me to were
nature spirits, and nature spirits were the first spirits to teach me
any magic. They mostly just concern themselves with their natural
functioning and so what they want in the relationship is less of an
issue. They will mostly also just teach you about magic of
interacting with them and related nature spirits. Depending upon
their function they may or may not be particularly helpful in
navigating other spirit conjuration, but they can be helpful as
companions and in dealing with basic areas of life and house holding.
To clarify these nature spirits are not necessarily fairies.

With
them being the easiest to connect with, they're the easiest ones to
give examples of how to approach them, and familiarity with working
with them could at least build the skills needed to bridge into
openness to encountering other types of spirits. Sarah Ann Lawless
has recommended that a witch should go into their environment and
just introduce themselves to the local spirits. I think this
suggestion is a great way to start. Maybe add to it making some small
offerings, milk, corn or some sort of meal, honey, flowers, or a
little shrine. None of those things will necessarily introduce you to
a spirit but they might start building a relationship where the
introduction could be a little easier.

A
next step might be putting yourself in a place for the encounter.
When I was entering adulthood I wanted to further explore hereditary
witchcraft and began working with a woman I had met who married into
a family that had their own magical practice. The beginning of
witchcraft for her was “becoming a good animal,” which involved
becoming in touch with your surroundings, the natural currents, and
the spirits that were there. The first step to doing this was to just
go sit outside and be open. Look, listen, breathe, and observe; feel.
If you don't have a natural propensity to seeing or observing
spirits, and no spirit has naturally approached you, and you have no
dead folk to reach out to, but you want to dip your toe in rather
than go the conjuration route right away, this may be your entry
point. Introduce yourself to the spirits of your back yard. Make some
offerings, go out and say hello periodically, and then, like a good
animal, get to know your surroundings. Sit and be open to what's
there.

So
yeah, traditionally, a witch would be able to connect with spirits, a
sorcerer would be introduced by the sorcerer initiating him...but,
maybe you don't have either of those as an option. Maybe no spirit
has naturally approached you and so you've got to take it upon
yourself. If you've been sitting on the sidelines waiting to figure
out this whole spirit magic thing, start with your dead, and if you
have no dead, start with your back yard. Build a relationship that
can help build your confidence in spirit communication, and can also
help create a position in which you're more ready to meet more
spirits.

If
you've already jumped in and work with spirits, maybe revisit who the
first spirit you worked with was. Was your first encounter a natural
one, maybe even one not connected to your magical practice now? If so
maybe it's time to look at why you had that encounter and whether or
not that spirit should have a place in your work. If your first
encounter was a spirit you conjured, why did you start with that one?
Was there a good relationship, and do you still maintain it? If you
don't still work with that spirit should you touch base and maybe see
how they fit into the rest of your model?

In
the end it kind of depends upon you and your situation. Maybe the
encounter that introduced you to spirits just served to show you
spirits are real and you should learn magic, but it did so because
the encounter was awful. Maybe that's not a spirit to go pursue
looking up. Kind of like people in our lives. Sometimes those
foundational people stick with us, sometimes they drift out and
reconnecting would be good. Sometimes they're gone and it's good
they're gone, but reflecting on their impact can still tell us
something about where we are now and maybe help us plan for where
we're going.

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